All Anyone Cares About Anymore Is Viva Points And I'm Sick And Tired Of It
I've been mulling over this blog for a while now and last night watching Surviving was the straw that broke this camel's back. I can't take it any more. If you pay attention to Barstool you have probably realized this phenomenon that has slowly taken over the company and we have got to put an end to it- the phenomenon of everyone here being obsessed with earning Viva Points.
What are Viva Points, you ask? It's simple. Barstool employees, not everyone, and not all the time, but a noticeable amount of Barstool employees have basically become internet "pick me" guys. Scared as hell to say one wrong thing and have one negative comment or reply directed at them. Viva Points are mainly collected on social media, where employees meticulously choose what they say or not say, who they support based on how they think the reaction will be, or going for low hanging fruit in order to gain favor with the outspoken Stoolies of the burnerverse and anonymous Redditors who will pounce at any given second.
An example of this would be how Austin went at Mook and Kelly Keegs, two targets he considered easy, but didn't go at Sas, who is one of the more beloved internet personalities. It was very Viva Points 101 of him and thankfully people saw right through it:
And so on and so forth.
If you're willing to go at Mook, go at Sas too. Go at Jerry too. Don't scoop up the low-hanging fruit for perceived clout, that's pussy shit.
We saw a big example of Viva Points last night on Surviving Barstool (spoiler ahead). Ohio's Tate orchestrated a plot to vote Nick Turani out of the game in what I'd call the best constructed and most vicious blindside we've had in 5 seasons of Surviving. A round of applause for Tate for getting out a huge threat in Nick Turani and putting the blame on Nicky Smokes in the process.
But here's the thing, if he did that to anyone besides Turani, he would have had a 3 minute sizzle reel and 8 different photoshops at the ready for a victory lap for the ages. Multiple sources tell me he has admitted he did not take this well-deserved victory lap because it's Nick. I find the whole "I only punch down" thing to be fucking lame. Imagine he orchestrated that hit on someone less liked at the company? But since it's Nick T it's radio silence? That sucks.
It's hard to blame people sometimes for trying to collect VPs. Working full-time on the internet is vicious. Reply guys and commenters are mean, to put it mildly. It sucks that's the way to the world has gone, where most people who take in content are normal and keep it moving, but the 1-5% of repliers/commenters/etc are ruthlessly evil. There's been studies on why this is and it's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy where the meaner you are, the more "likes" you get on the post, which gives you more endorphins, which keeps the cycle going. So when content creators figure out how to pander to these people, it feels good to get positive feedback on the internet where it is so rare. But at what cost, man? It makes content mundane, dry, and boring. It makes people second guess everything they make and put out. It turns everything into Buzzfeed and Dude Perfect. Because god forbid you speak your mind and give what will be considered an unpopular opinion, the hivemind comes for your ass. And it doesn't feel good as a content creator so your options are 1) stay true to yourself and deal with the backlash, 2) keep your mouth shut and don't speak your mind, 3) create something that is meaningful to you and hope it catches on, or 4) pander. And sadly pandering is the hot ticket in town.
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The closer you pay attention, the more you see this phenomenon company-wide. People saw Tate making content around Ben Mintz's stupidity, so then some new guy or social guy who wants Barstool clout would see Ben Mintz doing innocuous like drinking a coffee through a straw and tweet "oh my god can you believe this guy?!?!". Like who the fuck are you? The pick-me-ification of Barstool employees has gone too far. If I see one more social person tweet the words "Nicky Clicky" I'm gonna throw them out a window.
And I think a lot of this has to do with how more kumbaya of a company we are now that Dave is basically a ghost. I'm guilty of it too- I don't do Power Rankings anymore because too many people got way too upset over it. Power Rankings worked when there were like 15 of us total and it was "lol Riggs is golfing again". Now I'm 37 years old and it would just feel like bullying if I was talking about 23 year old coworkers that I've never even met. I suggested Lucas in Chicago do the power rankings but I think that got vetoed.
And you can't truly blame anyone for being kumbaya, right? Like, if the options are "be a part of drama" or "keep everything inside and not cause drama", most people are leaning the latter. It's worse for content, but you don't want to get labeled as "hard to work with" or "a cunt" or something like that because you dared to add some spice to the reality show. That's why you have to respect people like Kelly Keegs who doesn't give a fuckkkkkkk about Viva Points. Sure she's not always on the right side of the argument but at least she goes for it. At least she is willing to take on ANYONE, and doesn't pick and choose her battles. Punch up or down, she just punches. Often times I'm not even sure if she knows who she's punching or why, but at least she's throwing her internet fists when she sees fit.
And on that same page, you guys love to shit on the NYC Office but at least we put it all out there. I couldn't believe my fucking eyes when I saw this clip. The drama is building and building and building and then…..off camera???????????????
Preposterous to me. But I mean, yeah, it's easier day to day to work in an office where everything is butterflies and rainbows. But that's sorta the irony- not everything in Chicago or NY is butterflies and rainbows, but they are way more protected about what gets put out versus here. I mean think about the Brandon Walker funeral, none of that would have been exposed if Rone wasn't there. There's so much more that happens that nobody knows or sees, ie think about the last couple of weeks with #AustinAndHannahgate and shit like that.
I'm worried that if everyone is only worried about collecting VPs we become just another company. I get being hated online sucks. I've been hated more than anyone here for the last 15 years. But internally I'm not hated because I'm not fake as fuck. I'm not saying everything needs to be a fight or dramatic or anything like that, but I am saying not everything needs to be so fucking fake and performative either.